What Skiplog stores, where it is held, and how long your records stay
Your waste transfer notes are held in a Postgres database on Amazon Web Services, with a copy on the device you typed them on until that note syncs. From there this page goes record by record: what else Skiplog keeps about the yard and its Defra receipts, how long it stays, how you delete it, and what is not in place.
Where your transfer note data is stored
Every waste transfer note you record ends up in one place: a Postgres database on Amazon Web Services, deployed there through SST alongside the application itself. The Defra receipt rows that come off the same note, and the reported marks and references attached to them, sit in that same database.
Before a note reaches it, the note is written to the device you typed it on, so a load weighed in a black spot is saved on the tablet first, carries a visible queued, syncing or synced status, and goes up on its own when the signal comes back. While a note is queued there are two copies, one on the device and one waiting for it on AWS.
The hosting fact we publish names Amazon Web Services and does not name a region. If a region matters to your permit paperwork or to a customer's procurement form, ask before you commit rather than assume one.
That is the short answer. The rest of this page is the record-level detail: everything held about the yard and not just the notes, how long it stays, and how you get rid of it.
What Skiplog stores, and why
| What is stored | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Your name, email address and a hashed password | To sign you in and to send password resets and registration expiry reminders |
| Your site's details: name, address and postcode, permit or exemption number, region, a contact email and phone, any position statement, and your return columns | To head every note and return with the yard, to give Defra the receiver's details on every load, and to build returns in your area office's columns. Only the name starts an account |
| Every transfer note you record: the waste, its codes and weight, when it came in, form and containers, POPs and hazard details, carrier and vehicle, destination | These are the records the waste tracking rules require your site to keep, and the fields Defra's receipt of waste service asks for on every load |
| On the device you use Skiplog on: notes you record while offline, and a copy of the screens you have already opened | So a load can be recorded in a black spot and sent when the signal comes back. Signing out gives up that device's queue and clears the saved screens from it |
| Accounts for the people you add to your site, and the email addresses and invite links of anyone you have invited | So the weighbridge and the office each sign in as themselves and every note names who wrote it, instead of the yard sharing one login |
| Carrier, broker and dealer registrations you track, with their expiry dates | To warn you before a registration lapses: on the registrations screen, by email, and in any calendar you subscribe to the dates from |
| Generated quarterly returns and their totals | So a return you have already sent to the EA can be re-downloaded unchanged |
| Receipts batches for Defra's waste tracking service, each note's reported mark, its Defra reference, and the date and reason from a rejection notice | A batch records its dates, note count and who confirmed or undid it; the reference proves a load is in Defra's system, and a rejection notice's date is what sets the deadline for putting that load rig |
| A record of each correction to a note Defra had already accepted: the reference it went in under, and the old and new value of what changed | So the correction can be made in Defra's service inside the month it allows, and shown later with the reference the load was accepted under |
| Subscription status and a Stripe customer reference, never card details | To know the account is paid without asking Stripe on every page |
| The network address and browser of each signed-in session | To keep you signed in and to spot a session that is not yours |
The Defra receipt trail, and why it is longer than the note
Reporting the waste you receive asks more of a note than duty of care alone. Skiplog captures the receipt-of-waste fields on the transfer note itself, exports the rows in Defra's template column order from the receipts screen, and then keeps a record of what happened to each batch: its dates, how many notes were in it, and who confirmed or undid the confirmation.
Against a note you have marked as reported it holds Defra's waste tracking reference and the date that reference was recorded. If a notice comes back rejecting a load, the date and the reason from that notice are stored too, because that date is what sets the deadline for putting the load right. And if a note that already carries a Defra reference is later corrected, the correction itself is kept: the reference the load went in under, and the old and new value of whatever changed.
None of that is held to build a picture of your yard. It is held because a correction made in Defra's service inside the month it allows has to go in against the reference the load was accepted under, and because an inspector asking about one load is asking about one row.
What the site screen holds
Your site's record is the heading on every note, every receipt row and every return: the yard's name, address and postcode, the environmental permit or authorisation number, the region, a contact email and phone, any position statement, and the column layout you have set for your returns.
Only the name starts an account. The permit or authorisation number, the receiver contact details and the region are what Defra's receipt of waste asks for about the receiving site, so they are needed before receipt rows and returns leave the yard, not on day one while you are still looking at the thing.
The quarterly EA return comes out as a one-click CSV in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. Because that layout is held against the site rather than against each download, a return you generated last quarter can be re-downloaded with the totals and the columns it had when you sent it.
The copy on the yard tablet
Two things live on the tablet or phone: notes you recorded while offline and have not yet sent, and a copy of the screens you have already opened.
Signing out gives up that device's queue and clears the saved screens from it. That matters on a shared tablet that passes between a weighbridge operator and whoever is on next, which is the normal case in a small yard. Sync a device's queued notes before the person holding it signs out.
How people sign in
People sign in with an email address and a password. The password is stored hashed, not in readable form, and each signed-in session records the network address and browser it came from so an odd session can be spotted.
Everyone you add to the site gets their own account, so the weighbridge and the office do not share one login and every note names who wrote it. Invites go out by email, so the address and the invite link of anyone you have invited are held until they join.
There is no single sign-on and no two-factor authentication. If your IT policy requires either, Skiplog does not meet it today, and we would rather you knew that here than found out after a trial.
How long your records stay
Everything is kept while the account is open, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections rather than weeks.
A transfer note you remove comes off your register and off your returns, but it stays on file for the two years the regulations require, because a note taken out of a register is still a record someone may ask about later. The reported mark, the Defra reference and any rejection or correction attached to that note stay with it.
A lapsed trial does not lock your records away. Both plans start with a 60-day free trial, and when it ends your notes stay readable and exportable, so an unstarted subscription never sits between you and the quarter you have to account for. The sibling page on what happens if the trial lapses or you cancel goes further into that, and the pricing page carries the cost of each plan: £1,188 a year, or £129 a month.
How you delete your data
Open Billing in the app and use Delete account. Your account, your site and every record on it are removed at once, and a live subscription is cancelled first.
Two things to do in order before you press it:
- Download any records the EA still needs from you. Deletion does not keep a copy back for you.
- If you have added other people to your site, remove them on the site screen first, so a yard's records are never deleted out from under someone still signed into them.
There is no stated backup retention schedule after deletion, so do not treat deletion as a figure you can quote to a customer about how long copies survive.
The outside services that touch it
A short list of services outside Skiplog holds part of this data: the host it runs on, the one that takes card payments, and the one that sends email. The companion page on where your waste records are stored and who else touches them names each one and what it is given.
What is not in place
These are the things Skiplog does not have, and nothing elsewhere on this site claims them:
- An independent security audit or penetration test
- ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials or any other certification
- Single sign-on; accounts are email and password
- Two-factor authentication
- A signed data processing agreement
- A stated backup retention schedule after deletion
If one of those is a hard requirement on your side, that is a reason to wait or to look elsewhere, and we would rather say so than wave it through.
Questions
Where is my waste transfer note data stored?
In a Postgres database on Amazon Web Services, deployed there through SST with the application. Until a note syncs, there is also a copy on the device you recorded it on.
Is the data held in the UK?
The hosting fact we publish names Amazon Web Services and does not name a region, so we are not going to imply one here. If a specific region is a condition of your paperwork, ask us before you sign up.
What does Skiplog keep about my Defra receipt reporting?
Each receipts batch with its dates, note count and who confirmed or undid it, each note's reported mark and Defra waste tracking reference, the date and reason from any rejection notice, and a record of each correction to a note Defra had already accepted.
What does Skiplog keep about my site besides the notes?
The site name, address and postcode, permit or exemption number, region, a contact email and phone, any position statement, and the column layout you set for your returns. Only the name starts an account.
What happens to notes saved on the tablet when someone signs out?
Signing out gives up that device's queue and clears the saved screens from it. Sync a device's queued notes before the person holding it signs out.
Does Skiplog store card details?
No. Skiplog keeps a subscription status and a Stripe customer reference, and card details never touch it.
Can I get my records out when the free trial ends?
Yes. Both plans start with a 60-day free trial, and a lapsed trial does not lock the records away: they stay readable and exportable. Download what you need before you delete the account, because deletion removes everything at once.
Does Skiplog have ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials or two-factor sign-in?
No. There is no certification, no independent audit or penetration test, and no signed data processing agreement. Sign-in is email and password only, with no two-factor authentication and no single sign-on, though each person on the site has their own account.